Melanoma & Skin Cancer support: Introduce yourself and connect

@blc1951 May I offer my welcome. I am a mentor here, and have been a patient myself at Mayo for slightly over a year now due to metastatic melanoma that was diagnosed in November of 2024 when I had been started on immunotherapy.

There are folks on here who have treated for various types of melanoma, from stage 1 (in situ where it's more superficial involving the outer surface of the skin) to stage 4 like mine where it has affected more distant organs, such as the lung in my case. In addition, there may be people who have just undergone biopsies and awaiting results and those who are supporting loved ones undergoing such care.

Can you tell me a bit more about your background with melanoma?

@blc1951
Tell us what you would like us to know and how we can help. We all have different experiences with skin cancer, diagnoses, types, treatments, success.

I am 78 and grew up in the sun. Now paying for it 40 years later. I am still having to deal with skin cancer coming back and back. Seems now my skin cancers are SCC not BCC like in past. Have had a lot of MOHS surgery but my last one on my hand was first one I had stitches done. And wow had no idea what others experiences when MOHS surgery requires stitches.

Now just had another biopsy on same hand, same area that biopsy showed SCC. So now another MOHS surgery on January 7th. Poor hand has not healed from first MOHS but can't let the new one go and get bigger and deeper.

Before I forget go on the abbreviations post so you can review all the abbreviations used as it can be overwhelming to understand what is being said sometimes.

I am 74 years old and female. I have had a few SCCs and five melanomas, all in situ, until last week. My sixth melanoma is a recurrence from the first one in 2018. It is invasive and I am awaiting instructions from my melanoma doctor. Since this is the holiday week, he is out, but last Friday he ordered the slides so he could make a plan. I see a local dermatologist at least twice a year, and the director of the melanoma institute at Northwestern Medical in Chicago twice a year, thus my skin checks are every 3 months, plus I have skin mapping every year at Northwestern. I expect to hear something at the first of the week, hopefully Monday, but as you can imagine it. has been a very stressful holiday. Praying and keeping my fingers crossed.

@blc1951
Looks like you are getting good medical care. Did you have a past history of skin burns and excessive sun exposure?

I agree with being stressful. Hard not worry about. It seems like my skin cancer are really getting worse (more of them) and can't figure out why the changed from BCCs to SCCs.

I just learned what the in situ meant as I researched my last SCC surgery. If going to have SCC you want it to be in situ. I just had two surgeries for SCC. One was done via MOHS and the other cut and cauterized. Seems one was in situ and the other deep growing.

If you don't mind answering, what is skin mapping?

@jc76 my dermatologist said skin mapping is making a map of where they all are to track them better. Location and diameter and depth. Size progression and where spreading speed etc.

@blc1951: Thank you for introducing yourself and providing this background information. I can well appreciate the anxiety you must be feeling as you await more information from your melanoma provider. It's a scary time waiting to hear the outcome; I find it helps to be prepared for all eventualities. I'll post this information from Mayo so you may be more prepared for diagnosis guidelines and treatment options if you're interested - it's not to alarm you as "invasive" can run the gamut of stages and optimistically with your diligence in skin checks it does appear you were likey to have caught this early, In any event, there would be a variety of options available to you that your doctor can discuss with you once all the results are available.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/melanoma/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20374888
As @budisnothome summarized, skin mapping uses high resolution photography to track skin changes (moles/spots) compared to baseline photo to focus on detecting suspicious growths for analysis. This can provide for earlier detection of skin cancer.

Will you let me know next week what your doctor reported and what the treatment plan will be?

@grammato3 Thank you for the information. I do know from the biopsy that this is stage 2. I will let you know what the plan is after I hear from the dr.

@budisnothome
Thanks @budisnothome. Looks like something I may need to do soon if my SCCs keep coming and coming.

FYI skin mapping is not covered by insurance. I pay around $400 for the procedure.

@blc1951 Good point. As of now, there is no applicable code that has been applied for this service, which can range in price (from about $150-$500 depending on the provider) and is currently considered I&E (investigational and experimental) and/or not medically necessary as there are other less costly methods of detection - although none that may detect quite as early especially for high-risk individuals who have a prior history of melanoma, skin cancer or atypical moles.

As @jc76 has reported, I also have a significant history of several skin cancers including melanoma and will be having another Moh's surgery for BCC in a few weeks so it is worth it to me to spend the additional money to have the screening. Fortunately, Mayo where I treat in Phoenix (actually the dermatology division at the Scottsdale campus) recently obtained the Vectra 3D imaging system so I hope to get this early next year.

@blc1951, how often do or will you get this screening?